“Exhausted. But whole.”
He rested his head against hers, letting himself simply breathe. He closed his eyes, rested his body and mind, and silently prepared himself for whatever further dangers awaited them on this most perilous of journeys.
Chapter 20
If the Dread Penny Society didn’t find a way to curtail the efforts of the Mastiff and his cronies, Barnabus was likely to lose his medical practice. He was, once again, away from his house and at headquarters for a meeting.
He didn’t think the DPS was overreacting—he was well aware of the enormity of danger they were confronting—but, other than Elizabeth, he was the only one present who had a profession outside of writing penny dreadfuls. Stone took on laboring jobs here and there as needed, but he had the ability to take the time he needed. Brogan, Fletcher, Hollis, and Martin could come and go as they wished.
This was not a formal meeting, so they had gathered in the pub upstairs. Brogan spent a decent amount of time teasing those who did not choose Guinness as their beverage. Fletcher had eventually managed to rein them all in. Elizabeth was a good influence on him; she’d led him to be more focused than he had been before.
“What have you been able to sort out?” Fletcher asked Hollis.
He was the one who had known the most about the Radlett case when they had first come across the blackmail connected to it. They needed to know more than the cursory summary Hollis had offered then. There had to be a connection between this case and the Mastiff, or why would it be the focus of the blackmail?
“The murder in question occurred in 1823 in Radlett. There was no doubt the three men involved were guilty—one of murder and the other two of aiding in a murder. It was a particularly gruesome crime and captured the public’s attention. Thurtell,the murderer, was convicted and hung. Probert, one of the conspirators, was offered the chance to turn King’s evidence against the other two, and, in return for doing so, he received no sentence. Hunt, the third man, had been the most cooperative to the authorities, telling them where to find the body and other very significant details. He was convicted but spared execution, sentenced instead to transportation for life.”
“Probert was given mercy and Hunt weren’t?” Fletcher pressed. “Hunt was the more cooperative of the two, after all.”
“An oddity, to be sure,” Hollis said. “I have not found a good explanation for why that happened.”
“Which one of the fellas did Chelmsford represent?” Stone asked.
“Hunt. And, though it is odd he was not offered the opportunity to avoid sentencing, hewasspared hanging, which was a mercy in itself.”
Other than this being a somewhat famous case, there wasn’t any obvious reason why Lord Chelmsford would be targeted for his role in it.
“And Lord Chelmsford was involved in only Hunt’s defense?” Fletcher asked.
Hollis nodded. “It was one of his earliest cases. He’s tried a great many more since then. The crime itself garnered a lot of attention, but the trials are not considered of significant note. Certainly not Hunt’s. He was not actually the murderer, though he was involved in aspects of it, and the ghastly details of the crime certainly made him notorious.”
“Why is the Mastiff using this case for his blackmail, then? Chelmsford’s been Lord Chancellor. It seems there’d be more significant threats to level in that area of his life.” Barnabus was trying to find some connection between it all. There must’ve been something personally significant to the Mastiff. “Do we have any idea what the Mastiff’s actual name is?”
Fletcher shook his head. “I’ve even asked around over the last few months. Been trying to get a handle on the bloke. He’s only known by that name.”
“Any chance his name might actually be ‘Hunt’?” It was all Barnabus could think of.
“He’s not old enough to be John Hunt,” Elizabeth said.
“Could be family to him, though,” Brogan said. “Maybe he’s upset at how Chelmsford handled the trial.”
That was possible.
“If Hunt was going to hang but Lord Chelmsford got the bloke transportation instead, that’d be a mark in his favor with Hunt’s family.” Fletcher said. “Chelmsford kept him alive.”
Maybe not a family member, then. Or not a family memberof Hunt’s. “Perhaps he’s related to the victim, a son or nephew or something. Could be he’s upset that Hunt didn’t get a harsher sentence,” Barnabus suggested.
“Or related to the murderer and is frustrated that he alone paid the ultimate price for the crime they were all part of,” Martin added.
Both were entirely possible. “If the Mastiff is trying to discredit Chelmsford’s legacy out of revenge for a family member, we have to assume he hasn’t given up the plot yet. Family ties are complicated and not easily severed,” Barnabus said.
Elizabeth looked to him. “Speaking of which, Stone has filled us in on Gemma’s uncle.”
“If it weren’t so dangerous,” Fletcher said, “and it weren’t your Gemma in that danger, I’d give some thought to the possibility she might be able to learn from her family what the Mastiff’s about and what he means to do, seeing as they’re working with the cur.”
Barnabus opened his mouth to object, but Fletcher continued before he could.
“We ain’t actually going to run that line, so don’t panic. Itmight not do any good anyway. The Mastiff’s hold on the criminal element is so strong I suspect most of ’em do what he says without knowing anything of the whys.”